Mack paving the way for Cal

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, October 18, 2008

Cal players and coaches offered more than 10 unique responses as the No. 1 reason All-American Alex Mack is so dominant. The most obvious answer, however, came when the senior center walked up the Memorial Stadium steps after a practice this week.

Wearing purple shorts that had once been navy hundreds of grueling workouts ago, the 6-foot-4, 316-pounder squished pools of sweat from his cleats with each step toward the locker room.

"Here's a guy who is voted the top offensive lineman in the Pac-10, and he's done nothing in the nine months since then but try to get better," offensive line coach Jim Michalczik said. "There are guys who put in a ton of time and effort, and they couldn't even imagine working as hard as Alex does."

The work has paid dividends as Mack is a serious contender for the Rimington, Lombardi and Outland awards, was an All-America selection by Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News last season and was given the Morris Trophy as the Pac-10's top offensive lineman as voted by the conference's defensive linemen. He is considered by most experts the top center in the 2009 NFL draft and has sneaked into the first round of some mock drafts, a place centers aren't often found.

You get the feeling that Mack couldn't care less about the individual acclaim. He was projected to be a first-day pick last season, but chose to return to Berkeley to help "the team get back on track and finish things right."

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

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California Golden Bears Alex Mack watches the end of a play in the second half of the game as Cal defeated the Colorado State Rams 42-7 September 27, 2008 in Berkeley Calif.

California Golden Bears Alex Mack watches the end of a play in the second half of the game as Cal defeated the Colorado State Rams 42-7 September 27, 2008 in Berkeley Calif.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Mack paving the way for Cal

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With 12 pancakes, 15 knockdowns and five cuts, Mack is on pace to lead the team in all three blocking categories for the third consecutive season. He's much prouder of the fact that Cal is No. 2 in the nation in sacks allowed (31) in the last three seasons and that the offensive line is paving the way for 180 rushing yards a game at a clip of 5.6 yards a carry this year.

"He's a team-first guy," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "I don't think there's any doubt that the team is his utmost priority."

That premise plays out every day. He is one of the first to arrive and last to leave each practice, and he outworks everyone in between. He studies more video than any player in the program, and his fellow lineman joke that the Friday night Q&A periods take hours longer than necessary because he wants to discuss every aspect of every play.

Come Saturdays, Mack's teammates are glad the questions were asked and glad their center has the capacity to understand the answers. As the center, Mack has to figure out what the defense is doing and set the best blocking scheme to beat it on each play.

"There are 11 guys on defense who are constantly moving and who are always trying to confuse you," Michalczik said. "I wish it was like the old days, when you just lined up and saw who was tougher, but it's not. Alex does a great job of unwinding what the defense is going to do and figuring out how we're going to block it."

Along with football smarts, Mack graduated with a 3.6 grade-point average in legal studies and is enrolled in the education graduate program. He also possesses every attribute of the prototype offensive lineman.

He has strength (a school-record 374-pound clean), great feet and hands and flexibility (can do a complete split). Mack also has a favorite phrase of offensive linemen jargon: "mean streak."

"I think his tenacity, his ability to finish and his competitiveness set him apart," Tedford said. "When you see a field-level shot of him, you see how he finishes inside and the leverage he plays with. It's pretty amazing."

Of course, Mack isn't satisfied with amazing. Among his goals are winning a national championship, allowing zero sacks for a year and playing the perfect game.